http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. The once-radical idea of somehow plugging the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to stop the flow of unwanted species from spilling between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basin is quickly picking up political support. http://www.physorg.com/news180639318.html Space & Earth Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:35:47 EST news180639318 Cloaked in a delicate brown and cream striped shell and measuring a mere inch in length, the zebra mussel certainly doesn`t look ominous. This tiny invasive species, however, has wreaked havoc in waterways across Europe and North America. http://www.physorg.com/news179997072.html Biology Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:00:01 EST news179997072 (AP) -- After nearly four decades as a fishing guide on the Great Lakes, Pat Chrysler has seen enough damage from invasive species to fear what giant, ravenous Asian carp could do to the nation's largest bodies of freshwater. http://www.physorg.com/news179679229.html Biology Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:30:01 EST news179679229 A day at the beach in Wisconsin's North Woods didn't used to go like this. Candy Dailey spent a Fourth of July holiday splashing with grandkids on the sandy shore of Lake Metonga when she felt a nasty sting on her foot. http://www.physorg.com/news176972286.html Biology Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:59:07 EST news176972286 Predicting harmful algal blooms, or HABs, in the Great Lakes is now a reality as NOAA announces an experimental HAB forecast system in Lake Erie. HABs produce toxins that may pose a significant risk to human and animal health through water recreation and may form scum that are unsightly and odorous to beach visitors, impacting the coastal economy. Forecasts depicting current and future locations of blooms, as well as intensity, will alert scientists and managers to possible threats to the Great Lakes beaches and assist in mitigation efforts. http://www.physorg.com/news172424327.html Space & Earth Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:40:01 EST news172424327 (PhysOrg.com) -- Whether for introduced muskrats in Europe or oak trees in the United Kingdom, zebra mussels in United States lakes or agricultural pests around the world, scientists have tried to find new ways of controlling invasive species by learning how these animals and plants take over in new environs. http://www.physorg.com/news172429473.html Biology Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:08:33 EST news172429473 Steep reductions in the abundance of fish, shellfish, and other aquatic fauna in recent centuries are not restricted to animals that live in the sea: historical records show that species in rivers and lakes worldwide also experienced sharp declines. Yet the significance of these declines in freshwater species is frequently overlooked by natural resource managers, according to an article in the September 2009 issue of BioScience. http://www.physorg.com/news171007079.html Biology Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:10:01 EST news171007079 Highly invasive mussels are lurking on the Northwest's doorstep, threatening to gum up the dams that produce the region's cheap electricity, clog drinking water and irrigation systems, jeopardize aquatic ecosystems and upset efforts to revive such endangered species as salmon. http://www.physorg.com/news170530827.html Biology Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:10:02 EST news170530827 (PhysOrg.com) -- Released today, UC Davis' annual Lake Tahoe health report describes a spreading Asian clam population that could put sharp shells and rotting algae on the spectacular mountain lake's popular beaches, possibly aid an invasion of quagga and zebra mussels, and even affect lake clarity and ecology. http://www.physorg.com/news169833736.html Space & Earth Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:40:01 EST news169833736 Canadian scientists uncover alarming invasion of round goby into Great Lakes tributaries: impact on endangered fishes likely to be serious. http://www.physorg.com/news169211269.html Biology Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:08:33 EST news169211269 (AP) -- On naked patches of land in western Canada and United States, scientists are planting trees that don't belong there. It's a bold experiment to move trees threatened by global warming into places where they may thrive amid a changing climate. http://www.physorg.com/news167277225.html Biology Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:10:01 EST news167277225 (AP) -- Two years after an invasive mussel was first discovered at Lake Mead, the population has firmly established itself and gone on a breeding binge, with numbers soaring into the trillions. http://www.physorg.com/news167163370.html Biology Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:40:01 EST news167163370 (PhysOrg.com) -- The Great Lakes are in the midst of a remarkable ecological transformation, driven largely by the blitzkrieg advance of two closely related species of non-native mussels. http://www.physorg.com/news166978895.html Space & Earth Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:40:04 EST news166978895 (AP) -- A pet Burmese python broke out of a glass cage last week and killed a 2-year-old girl in her Florida bedroom. The tragedy became the latest and most graphic example of a problem that has plagued the state for more than a decade: a nonnative species that is wreaking havoc in the Everglades, threatening people, the environment and native wildlife. http://www.physorg.com/news166298108.html Biology Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:55:32 EST news166298108 The zebra mussels that have wreaked ecological havoc on the Great Lakes are harder to find these days - not because they are dying off, but because they are being replaced by a cousin, the quagga mussel. But zebra mussels still dominate in fast-moving streams and rivers. http://www.physorg.com/news163988785.html Biology Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:50:01 EST news163988785 A handful of ravenous, venomous lionfish, a species native to the western Pacific, were spotted off North Carolina in 2000. Turns out they like it here. A lot. http://www.physorg.com/news159706864.html Biology Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:01:42 EST news159706864 Researchers in California are reporting for the first time that metals are key ingredients that give the coatings of anchoring byssal threads of marine mussels their amazing durability. The study could lead to the design of next-generation coatings for medical and industrial applications, including surgical coatings that protect underlying tissues from abrasion and also life-threatening bacterial infections, the researchers say. Their study appears in ACS` Langmuir. http://www.physorg.com/news158435687.html Chemistry Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:55:16 EST news158435687 The origin of the neurotoxin azaspiracid has finally been identified after a search for more than a decade. The azaspiracid toxin group can cause severe poisoning in human consumers of mussels after being enriched in the shellfish tissues. The scientific periodical European Journal of Phycology reports in its current issue (Vol. 44/1: p. 63-79) that a tiny algal species, the dinoflagellate Azadinium spinosum, is responsible. http://www.physorg.com/news157129483.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:05:38 EST news157129483 Using the natural glue that marine mussels use to stick to rocks, and a variation on the inkjet printer, a team of researchers led by North Carolina State University has devised a new way of making medical adhesives that could replace traditional sutures and result in less scarring, faster recovery times and increased precision for exacting operations such as eye surgery. http://www.physorg.com/news156599804.html Chemistry Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:57:14 EST news156599804 (PhysOrg.com) -- While working on her doctorate, Anette Bauer Ellingsen discovered potentially disease-causing vibrios (Vibrio cholerae, V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus) in Norwegian seafood and inshore seawater. http://www.physorg.com/news154708942.html Space & Earth Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:42:59 EST news154708942 The quick decline of a tiny shrimp-like species, known scientifically as Diporeia, isrelated to the aggressive population growth of non-native quagga mussels in the Great Lakes, say NOAA scientists. As invasive mussel numbers increase, food sources for Diporeia and many aquatic species have steadily and unilaterally declined. http://www.physorg.com/news154265065.html Biology Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:24:52 EST news154265065 (PhysOrg.com) -- It has a beautiful, but also an unpleasant side: crystallization determines the shape of precious stones, but also causes the lime scale in washing machines. How this comes about, has been known for a long time - or has it? Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces are now whittling away at the established theory, which is unable to explain numerous phenomena. The researchers investigated the crystallization of calcium carbonate, known commonly as chalk, and found that stable nanoclusters form in water with a small quantity of dissolved calcium carbonate - not how it was assumed to happen in the past. The lime scale deposits that will eventually bring a washing machine to a standstill are created from these tiny chalk particles. http://www.physorg.com/news151930674.html Physics Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:58:50 EST news151930674 Queen's University Belfast is working on a three-year study to conserve and restore endangered horse mussel reefs in Strangford Lough. http://www.physorg.com/news151840618.html Space & Earth Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:57:40 EST news151840618 Pipe-clogging invasive mussels caused up to $1.5 billion in damage across 23 states between 1989 and 2007. Now, fingernail-sized quagga mussels, a close relative of zebra mussels, have spread to the West and threaten to do even more damage. http://www.physorg.com/news134144260.html Space & Earth Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:17:40 EST news134144260